Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world and daughter of Aphrodite, was the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta; however, Aphrodite promised Helen to Paris, prince of Troy. Paris abducted Helen, so Menelaus called on Helen's old suitors to help him retrieve her, since they had taken an oath to defend her honor. Odysseus had taken this oath, and so he had to go and help Menelaus win back his wife. Thus, the Trojan War was fought over a woman.
The first nine years of the war consisted of fighting. The Greeks could not break down the walls that surrounded the city of Troy. Odysseus came up with a plan: he ordered his men to build a large, hollow, wooden horse, and, when it was finished, Odysseus and many other warriors hid inside while the rest of the Greeks' ships sailed away. One man stayed behind and claimed to have been deserted. The Trojans celebrated their victory and pulled the horse inside the walls. That night, the man who claimed to have been deserted let the Greek warriors out, and they slaughtered the Trojans. Helen was retrieved and she returned to Sparta with Menelaus.
This was how Odysseus spent his first ten years away from Ithaca. The story of the following ten years comprises the whole of The Odyssey.
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